Effect of a federal early education program in Mexico on the developmental level of children aged 13-48 months: national survey.

Background: Early childhood development is crucial. The objective of this study was to evaluate, on a national scale, the level of development of children enrolled in the federal childcare program, according to the length of stay in the childcare centers and by geographic area.

Methods: A national cross-sectional study was conducted. The study population comprised 231,058 children aged between 13 and 48 months, enrolled in 9200-day care centers across the 32 states of Mexico. The developmental level was measured using the Child Development Evaluation test. The effect of length of stay was analyzed by logistic regression, using odds ratio of prevalence and 95% confidence intervals.

Results: Of the total number of participants, 53% were male, and the 37-48 month-old group was the largest (45%, n = 103,976). The length of stay ranged from 1 to > 24 months. The proportion of children with normal developmental outcomes increased alongside the length of stay, from 72.3% for children with < 6 months of stay to 88.7% for those who attended centers for > 24 months. By geographical region, Guerrero and Oaxaca, two low-income states, showed the best results, along with the highest-income states. The distribution for each area of development and geographic area are shown.

Conclusion: At the national level, long-term enrollment in daycare centers favors normal development. Particularly important is the high result in low-income regions, and it could be an equalizing strategy as a public policy. The different results among areas could help to improve the curricula.